Vegan Panna Cotta (Way Better Than With Agar Agar!)

3 white plates with white panna cotta topped with a thick purple sauce and different berries.

Vegan Panna Cotta (Way Better Than With Agar Agar!)

This vegan panna cotta is not only creamy but velvety. It is a silky smooth cooked cream that just melts in your mouth. Making this vegan Italian dessert requires little effort but delivers a stunning result. If you find panna cotta with agar-agar stiff and firm, you will love this recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Dairy-free, Egg-free, Gluten-free, Italian, Soy-free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword mixed berries sauce, vegan panna cotta

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Cooling time 1

Total Time 1 25

Servings ⅓ cup serving (80 ml)

Calories 92kcal

Author Emese Maczko

Equipment

Immersion hand blender with 20 fl oz container
Silicone muffin tin

Ingredients

Vegan Panna Cotta

1 14-oz can Full-fat coconut cream (canned)
1 cup Dairy-free milk (I used almond milk)
¼ cup Granulated sugar
⅓ cup Corn starch
2 tsp Vanilla extract

Mixed Berries Sauce

2 cup Frozen mixed berries
½ cup Water
¼ cup Cane sugar or coconut sugar
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Corn starch

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Vegan Panna Cotta

Measure up all ingredients. Shake your coconut milk can (stored at room temperature).
Take a saucepan and warm up full-fat coconut milk and sugar on medium heat.
Take a small bowl and mix dairy-free milk and cornstarch and add it to the saucepan once the sugar has dissolved. If you add it without pre-mixing, it might get lumpy. Better be safe than sorry.
Cook it on medium heat until cornstarch is activated and the cream has thickened. It should be similar to a slow-flowing paste. It took me approx. 10 minutes. Check out our video to see the consistency better.
Add vanilla extract. Stir well.
Pour the mixture into 8 serving bowls (⅓ cup each).
Prepare the berry sauce (or your favorite topping) while the panna cotta is set in the fridge. I cool them first on the kitchen counter and only place them in the fridge when they are not hot to the touch anymore.
How to serve panna cotta? You can serve them in glasses topped with berry sauce. I also like using silicone muffin tins to flip them out to a plate and top them with berry sauce.

Mixed berries sauce

Take a saucepan and add mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, red currant, black currant), water, and coconut sugar. Bring it to a boil.
When the berries are soft, use an immersion blender to blend them into a sauce. (If the berries were frozen, they will soften even quicker.)
Finally, add cinnamon and cornstarch and bring them to a boil to activate the starch. It will thicken to a slow-flowing sauce that is perfect to top your panna cotta. It took me approx. 10 minutes.

Video

Notes

Top tips

How to avoid lumps? - If you are using any thickeners (starches or agar-agar powder or anything similar) we recommend dissolving them separately in any small amount of liquid that is at room temperature. If you add a thickener to hot liquid, you will get lumps. Alternatively, since an eggless panna cotta doesn't really need cooking, you can add all ingredients in one go and heat it up like that.
Add vanilla extract after it has thickened - If you want to capture the vanilla aroma, we recommend adding it at the last minute. If you add it in the first step and it is heated even for like 5-10 minutes, vanilla extract loses all its aroma. So if you end up with a more coconutty panna cotta, you probably added vanilla extract too early.
What if it is not thick enough? - Cornstarch needs high heat to be activated. If you don't heat it high enough or long enough, you may end up with a custard texture instead of a panna cotta texture. You will not be able to turn it out of silicone molds.
Cool it down before placing it in the fridge - Cool them first on the kitchen counter and only place them in the refrigerator when they are not hot to the touch anymore. If you place them hot in the fridge, condensation might appear at the top.

If you need any substitutions, please read the FAQs and substitutions, where I explain in detail which ingredients can be swapped and why.

Top 3 panna cotta flavors

Berry Sauce - Follow the directions in this recipe to make a Mixed Berries Sauce, or check out our quick strawberry sauce recipe.

Salted Caramel - Make a quick vegan caramel by melting ½ cup (35g) of coconut sugar and one 14-oz (400g) full-fat coconut milk in a saucepan. Make sure you have sea salt flakes (fleur de sel), not regular salt, to make this delicious sauce. Add ½ tsp and check for taste.

Fresh Mango Puree - Peel, slice, and blend ripe(!) mangos into a creamy mousse. No need to add any other ingredient. It will make your vegan panna cotta absolutely refreshing.

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